Page 73 of Dance of the Phoenix

Jebediah’s eyes flashed in victory as he came at me full force, somehow causing the floor to shake and rumble, making it hard for me to try and get up.

He aimed a kick at my head, and I could barely roll away from him. By then, Logan reached from behind, wrapping his arm aroundJebediah’s neck. “Aileen, use it!” Logan screamed at me as he struggled to keep Jebediah immobile with his hold, as Jebediah thrashed and struggled against him.

The floor stopped shaking, probably thanks to Logan distracting Jebediah, so I managed to climb to my feet, the adrenaline numbing the ache in my ribs.

Knowing there would be hell to pay later, I closed my eyes and, for the third time, thought,Stop!

Time barely obeyed my command this time, and I knew we had only seconds before my control would slip. “Do it!” I screamed at Logan through the silence in the arena.

Logan didn’t hesitate; he pushed Jebediah to the floor and, with one foot on his back, Logan raised his other foot, and with power and strength no human could hope to have, he stomped down on Jebediah’s neck, cutting through the skin, meat, and veins, ripping through until his foot touched the floor itself, severing Jebediah’s head from the rest of his body.

I could barely see Logan’s face turn to shock when I felt my hold on time slipping before I could even command it to resume.

The cheers returned, but the crowd suddenly turned silent, as if not understanding what was happening. Which made sense; for them, one moment Logan was barely holding onto Jebediah, and in the next blink, Jebediah was on the floor, dead, blood pooling under him.

Before the exhaustion could kick in, I forced myself to rise up and turn around to face Eleanor.

But Eleanor wasn’t there.

And when I looked for the knife I’d taken from her, I didn’t find it anywhere.

Then I heard the crowd collectively gasp, and I slowly turned around.

Eleanor was right before Logan, holding the knife in Logan’s chest.

My heart stopped, and I couldn’t move as Eleanor, using strength I didn’t know she was capable of, twisted the knife and curved it before taking it out, a beating heart impaled on its sharp, bloody edge.

Eyes wide, Logan fell to his knees, looking down at his gaping chest. He then turned to look at me, his face slack with shock, before, to my utter dismay, he smiled.

Then Logan crumbled to the floor into a puddle of his own blood, dead.

Chapter 39

Aileen

Nothing made sense.

Logan couldn’t be dead. He was a Gifted, an elite vampire. He was a Commander in the Troop. He couldn’t possibly die.

Especially not at the hands of a Common like Eleanor.

“I’m sorry, Aileen.”

I tore my eyes from Logan’s body to look at Eleanor, who looked at me with that lifeless expression on her face. She still held the knife with the heart, no longer beating, lodged on it.

I tried to speak, but I couldn’t. I had no words. I couldn’t even feel anything other than shock.

Ever so casually, Eleanor slid the heart off her knife until it fell with a sickening splashing sound on the floor. Then she walked toward me, leisurely, as if she hadn’t just killed Logan. Killed my ex-boyfriend. My old friend. The one person I didn’t think would ever die, especially not like this.

“It’s what this is all for, isn’t it?” Eleanor now said, her eyes glued to me, face blank.

I couldn’t move as she stopped before me, as if she’d cast a spell on me. “It’s not possible for both of us to get out of this alive,” she told mequietly, and for the first time I saw her face crack. Agony flashed in her eyes, causing them to glow. “So kill me, Aileen.”

My shock multiplied. I was almost unable to comprehend what she was saying.

“If you don’t,hewill, even if I kill you,” she whispered, and I froze. “I don’t want to kill you. Please,” she begged me. “He’s going to control me soon—”

And just like that, her face was wiped of all expression once more, turning deadly and lifeless.